Leeds United is pleased to announce that Flamingo Land Theme Park and Resort will be the new Sponsor of the Leeds United Academy for the 2011/12 Season.

The Academy, is based at Thorp Arch, has a long history of producing players for both the club and at international level. Jonny Howson, who captained the first team last season, is one of the most recent graduates and has made over 200 senior appearances for the club.

Both chairman Ken Bates and manager Simon Grayson recently spoke of the importance of a strong Academy system within the club and no less than eight players on the first team pre-season tour to Scotland last week had graduated through the club’s Academy.

The world’s first pedal-powered cinema has given hope to the Udzungwa Forest Project, which until now has focussed most of its educational work on primary school children. This mobile cinema was taken to Katurukila village on the edge of the threatened Magombera forest, where 500 villagers watched a film about the importance of forests for providing water and preventing drought. This was the first showing of a pedal-powered film in Tanzania.

Providing a home to over 140 species takes a team with great passion, skill and dedication. What’s more, they’re always delighted to share their knowledge and experience. So, please join them to learn a little more about some of our more exotic residents.

While setting up survey plots to better understand the habitat of the endangered kipunji in 2010, Udzungwa Forest Project researchers stumbled across a tree that they could not identify. The initial specimen collections contained leaves and fruits but no flowers, meaning that the tree could not be verified. This led the research team to embark on their annual expedition to the Udzungwa Mountains two months earlier than usual, in an attempt to catch the tree in flower.

From 30th May until 5th June, Flamingo Land Resort will be teaming up with zoos throughout the UK to support the British & Irish Association of Zoos & Aquariums (BIAZA) ‘Love Your Zoo’ Week.

This national programme of events has been designed to encourage people to visit their local zoo, creating a better understanding of BIAZA’s work and inspiring conservation of our natural world.

To kick off this great event, you’ll have the opportunity to meet our Zoo vet, Matt Brash, between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm on Monday 30th May. Author and TV celebrity, Matt and his team have looked after our collection for many years and will provide visitors with a unique perspective on the animal world!

As part of Flamingo Land’s ongoing commitment to protecting endangered species, in late 2008 the zoo team began to discuss the potential for breeding Sumatran tigers. Driven by the ongoing decline of these beautiful creatures in the wild, further investigation resulted in the foundations of a long-term plan.

Now, as the culmination of over twenty-four months of research, planning and habitat creation, Tuesday 2nd September saw the arrival of Bawa, a two-year-old male Sumatran tiger, weighing in at a healthy 109 kilos. Just a few days later, Surya, a 17-month-old female, joined Flamingo Land’s newest arrival and both are now settling in well.

Saturday 10th July saw visitors enjoying Flamingo Land’s very first Tanzania Day. Designed to showcase the Theme Park & Zoo’s conservation work in East Africa, the launch of this annual event featured some of the country’s diverse plant and animal species. However, Flamingo Land’s Udzungwa Forest Project (UFP) provided the central theme.

After almost 24 months, incorporating extensive research, plus a colossal amount of planning, building and sheer hard work, this week sees Flamingo Land’s elusive Humboldt Penguins making a welcome return to public life.

Although a spectacular launch of the Theme Park & Zoo’s latest attraction, Penguin Coast, had been planned for Summer 2010, the focus on creating a truly compatible environment has tempered the project’s development.

For many visitors Flamingo Land is all about thrilling rides and fun packed holidays, but that’s just part of the story. At the UK’s favourite zoo, Education Officer Amanda Gott and her team are passionate about the learning opportunities this unique environment provides.

In recent years strong bonds have been developed with both Askham Bryan College, one of the UK’s foremost land-based educational facilities, and The University of York. Now, as a result of substantial investment in a dedicated Education Centre and the development of an extensive outreach programme, Flamingo Land are very proud of the wide range of formal and non-formal educational opportunities they provide for schools, visitors and the wider community.

Over the years Flamingo Land has featured in a variety TV shows, but to many the ‘Zoo Vet at Large’ series has been responsible for raising awareness of the Theme Park & Zoo nationwide.

Featuring Matt Brash, our long-serving zoo vet, the programme has seen the man regarded as a James Herriot for the 21st Century deal with a multitude of exotic patients including a depressed iguana, frisky lemurs and a mischievous meerkat… plus many, many more.

To celebrate Flamingo Land’s long-term involvement in the conservation of tropical forests in Tanzania, this Saturday (July 10th) will see Flamingo Land’s first official “Tanzania Day”. Events on the day will include Tanzanian music, dancing, painting and games.

There will even be an opportunity to get up close and personal with some of our African animals and animal artefacts, and to experience Tanzanian culture, from daily living to brightly coloured clothes.

This species is very easy to distinguish, with its grey/brown fur on its back, white fronts, black eyes, and black and white banded tail. It is generally quite active during the day time, however when sleeping they will often curl up into a ball, wrapping its tail around itself.

The red bellied lemur has dark brown fur with a black tail, and the males have white bare patches of skin below their eyes making it easy to distinguish them from the females. They can be active during both day and night time depending on the availability of their food, and they feed from ground level up to the highest point of the trees.

The Hamerkop is a brown, medium sized bird native to most central and south African countries and is fantastic at building nests. Even though it is a fairly small animal, it can construct a nest that can reach 1.5 metres across.

Our porcupines live alongside our meerkats and their diet is predominantly a wide variety of vegetables. Porcupines are monogamous animals and live in extended family groups consisting of an adult male and female and their offspring.

The Blue and Yellow Macaw is often considered to be one of the most trainable birds of these parrots with the perceived intelligence equivalent of a 3 year old child.

In the wild, these mongoose would be found in Sub-Saharan Africa in savannah and woodland areas. Their diet consists of fruit, invertebrates, small reptiles and sometimes eggs. Although relatively small animals, they have very sharp teeth and so are well-equipped predators.

The tapir is related to the horse and rhinoceros. Today’s tapirs closely resemble those found roaming the Earth 35 million years ago. The Brazilian or Lowland Tapir is nearly always found close to water and is an excellent swimmer. It is fast and sure-footed on land too, even on the roughest terrain.

The Royal Palm is a breed of domestic turkey. This breed of Turkey is not found in the wild, rather bred in captivity. It is not primarily selected for meat production, and is usually kept as an ornamental bird with a unique appearance, largely white with bands of metallic black. These turkeys are active, excellent foragers, and good flyers.

As its name suggests, the Scarlet Ibis is completely red – apart from its black wing tips. With long legs and a slender neck, they grow to 75cm (30in) high and have a wingspan of 30cm (1ft).